Mortgage-modification programs’ weak spots

Two years of agony have ended for Claire and Nick Zalepka. Bank of America Corp. has foreclosed on the house in Hatfield, Montgomery County, they bought for $350,000 in 2002, when Claire’s former employer, a pharmaceutical company, relocated her from North Jersey. With their two children, the couple now live in a rental in Lansdale. In today’s market, their house was worth only $200,000, said Claire Zalepka, 48. She and Nick, 47, a cabinetmaker, owed $300,000 on it when they finally said, “Enough.” “We’ve spent every dime of our savings,” said Claire Zalepka, who was making six figures when she lost her job in January 2008, after almost two decades with the firm.